Microsoft really are “all in” the Cloud

After TechEd North America I’ve come away finally really understanding that Microsoft are seriously committed to the Cloud.

I mean really, really committed.

With more details to follow, Microsoft now has a meaningful lineup of Cloud offerings which now genuinely puts it into the Cloud Service Provider (CSP) space right up there with “established” (the Cloud is probably still too new for “established”, let’s redefine as “first mover”) players such as Amazon and Google.

Just looking at these offerings tells us that Microsoft is not only thinking strategically about the Public and Hybrid Cloud for its existing SME, mid-tier and Enterprise clients (Azure, Office 365) but also about how it can further monetize is massive (to date) investment beyond Azure and Office 365 with future offerings in the XaaS (replace the “X” with the letter of your choice…) space such as an online backup service and cloud based source control for developers.

Are these additional services just “me to” or are they simply ways for Microsoft to make use of resources that are sitting currently idle? Who knows, but one thing is for certain, it’s both good for the global client community and good for Microsoft; a classic win-win.

I’m inspired, excited and even more committed to the Microsoft dream. I am definately all in!